SPANISH LAKE 鈥 A customer stood at the counter during the Tuesday lunch rush at the QuikTrip here and eyed Chris Sternfels, the store manager.
鈥淒id you sell the winning ticket?鈥 the customer asked.
Sternfels laughed and said he didn鈥檛 know.
But someone 鈥 who has remained anonymous 鈥 bought a Powerball ticket worth $893.5 million at the QuikTrip at 12110 Lusher Road, off Highway 367, north of Interstate 270, the Missouri Lottery announced this week.
鈥淚 hope it鈥檚 someone who we see every day (and) their life has just completely changed,鈥 Sternfels said.
The store will receive a prize of $50,000 for selling the winning ticket.
Angela McAllister, left, buys lottery tickets from Spanish Lake QuikTrip manager Chris Sternfels on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. One of two winning tickets in Saturday鈥檚 $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot was sold at the Spanish Lake Quiktrip. 鈥淚鈥檓 so over it鈥 said McAllister about Powerball as she bought Pick 3 and Pick 4 lottery tickets.
鈥淣o one in Missouri ever wins,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very, very rare. It鈥檚 unbelievable.鈥
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The winning ticket holder will split the $1.787 billion jackpot, the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, with a second winner. That ticket was sold in Fredericksburg, Texas.
Sternfels said he hopes the winner is one of the store鈥檚 many regular customers who stop in on their commutes, from nearby neighborhoods or from across the river in Illinois.
On Tuesday, around noon, QuikTrip workers stayed busy behind registers, ringing people up for cold drinks, snacks and lottery tickets.
Neco McNeal, of 51黑料, said she buys tickets every now and then. On Tuesday she visited QuikTrip to try her luck, leaving with a couple of Lotto tickets.
鈥淚鈥檓 here every morning,鈥 McNeal said. 鈥淢y sister called me like, 鈥楪irl, you won the lottery?鈥 I said, 鈥楪irl, I didn鈥檛 go to the store that day.鈥欌
If she had won, McNeal said she鈥檇 use the money to take care of her family and give to her church.
鈥淚鈥檓 just glad for whoever won,鈥 McNeal said. 鈥淚 know it鈥檚 going to change their life.鈥
Barbara Ellis, of North County, said she鈥檚 been buying lottery tickets from this QuikTrip for years now. She even won $25,000 from a scratch-off a few years ago.
鈥淧eople know I play here and everyone was calling me, 鈥業 know you got the winning ticket,鈥欌 Ellis said, with a laugh. 鈥淚 would not be around here if I won.鈥
When word spread that the Spanish Lake store sold the winning ticket, Ellis said she started looking at her lottery tickets a second time to check her numbers. She and her husband had bought 14 tickets for Saturday鈥檚 drawing.
鈥淚 started going through the house, just in case,鈥 she said. 鈥(My husband) looked for them through the house, looked in the car. When we found out it was here, he was double-checking.鈥
Ellis likes to pick numbers using family members鈥 birthdays and ages. If she ever wins the jackpot, Ellis said she would give the money to her kids and grandchildren, in addition to church tithes and charity donations.
On Tuesday, she left the store with four Powerball tickets and a few scratch-offs.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 win unless you play,鈥 Ellis said.
Powerball is run by the Multi-State Lottery Association, a non-profit that also operates other jackpot games like the Mega Millions. Powerball tickets are sold at $2 per play in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
About half of the ticket revenue goes to the prize pool and the rest goes to state programs and costs like lottery administration and retailer commissions.
A robot cleans the floor at the Spanish Lake QuikTrip as customers file in and out of the store on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. One of two winning tickets in Saturday鈥檚 $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot was sold at the Spanish Lake Quiktrip.
Powerball players in Missouri and Texas won the nearly $1.8 billion jackpot on Saturday, overcoming astronomical odds to end the lottery game鈥檚 three-month drought without a big winner. The winning ticket in Texas was sold at a gas station-convenience store in Fredericksburg, according to the Texas Lottery.
